Washington Times Picked Up The WSJ Article

[Guest guest]

UPDATE:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031229-112707-6238r.htm

The article in the Wall Street Journal entitled " Politics of Autism " was

picked up by the Washington Times today.

For everyone who sent all of the incredible responses to the WSJ, could you

also please email or fax them to the Washington Times at:

National News Desk

Tel: 202/636-3161

Fax: 202/529-6658

Inside Politics Columnist

Greg Pierce

E-mail: gpierce@...

We'd also like for you to include two ads which can be printed out from our

Grassroots Center at http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/grassroots.php or

you can copy and paste these links into your emails to the Washington Times.

http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/images/frist1.pdf

http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/images/frist2.pdf

To see letters for inspiration, visit

http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/grassrootswsj2.php

Thanks so much everyone and Happy New Year!

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031229-112707-6238r.htm

Three Senators

" For any parent, there are few more traumatic diagnoses than that a child

suffers from autism. But the increasing political attention to that affliction

is

having the unintended and dangerous consequence of limiting vaccines for all

children, " the Wall Street Journal says.

" This is a story of politics and lawyers trumping science and medicine. It

concerns thimerosal, a preservative that was used in vaccines for 60 years and

has never been credibly linked to any health problems. Nonetheless, a small but

vocal group of parents have taken to claiming that thimerosal causes autism,

a brain disorder that impairs normal social interaction. The result has been

an ugly legal and political spat that has spilled into Congress and is

frightening some parents from vaccinating their children against such deadly

diseases

as tetanus and whooping cough, " the newspaper said in an editorial.

Like night follows day, the dispute has also brought in the trial lawyers.

Vaccine makers are supposed to be protected from lawsuits by 1986 legislation,

but the lawyers are exploiting loopholes to file billion-dollar suits that

threaten to punish the few companies that still make vaccines.

Congress tried to fix this by including a liability provision in homeland

security legislation a year ago. But three Northeast Republican senators —

Olympia Snowe, and Lincoln Chafee — demanded it be taken out

until

Congress could have a full airing of the thimerosal-autism issue. The senators

haven't yet honored their side of that deal.

Perhaps that's because if they did, their position would be exposed as

scientifically untenable. The claim is that thimerosal, an organic mercury

compound,

can cause neurodevelopmental disorders. But study after study has shown that

there is simply no such link.

_________________________

The NAA Team

National Autism Association

Phone: 877-NAA-AUTISM

Email: NAA@...

http://nationalautismassociation.org/